Whitecaps win Title

Last night the Vancouver Whitecaps captured their second USL-1 title in three years defeating the tired and road weary Puerto Rico Islanders 2-1. Englishman, Jonathan Steele, the league’s MVP and arguably one of the best footballers that plays on American soil had a subpar match for the Islanders, as did Peter Villegas. Charles Gbeke who started the season with Montreal scored twice, including the winning goal on a nice setup from Justin Moose. The Islanders had a golden chance to equalize late but Sandy Gbandi who scored the first goal hit a one timer just high.This was a lively, entertaining match but the fact that Vanocuver, second in the regular season was hosting the match forcing the Islanders already strecthed travel schedule to be pushed further left a very bad taste in my mouth.

The Islanders must now focus on the Champions League where despite leading their group, a tough road awaits to make the quarterfinals. The Islanders lead the group with 7 points, while Santos and Tauro FC are sitting on 6 points each. It is imperative that the road weary Islanders rest up and take all 3 points next Wednesday against Municipal at home.

About Kartik Krishnaiyer

A lifelong lover of soccer, the beautiful game, he served from January 2010 until May 2013 as the Director of Communications and Public Relations for the North American Soccer League (NASL).
Raised on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the old NASL, Krishnaiyer previously hosted the American Soccer Show on the Champions Soccer Radio Network, the Major League Soccer Talk podcast and the EPL Talk Podcast.
His soccer writing has been featured by several media outlets including The Guardian and The Telegraph. He is the author of the book Blue With Envy about Manchester City FC.
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4 Responses to Whitecaps win Title

Kartik,
This final is ridiculous for two reasions:
1. Charles Gbeke was acquired in a trade THAT DAY. Is there no trade deadline in USL1?
2. The final wasn’t in Puerto Rico. This smells of Vancouver making a better bid money-wise, like the US Open Cup (speculation)

It’s somewhat hard to take this seriously when these two things have occurred.

This is the first USL game I have ever watched and it was quite honestly better than any MLS game I have ever seen including MLS cups. It was absent all the sloppy giveaways and missed sitters that typify MLS matches even in the playoffs. It was good, end to end soccer. That having been said it was still tainted to see the better team on the road in the final. Besides that the match did not have even 1/10th the atmosphere of an MLS playoff match and those matches don’t even have 1/10th the atmosphere of Mexican League matches. So despite the attractive soccer, USL like MLS has a long long long way to go to hold my interest.

BURNABY, BC – The final day of June may have been the most important day of the season in contributing to the second championship in three years for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the final day of the USL First Division season Sunday as Charles Gbeke, who was acquired in a trade that day, scored both goals in the club’s 2-1 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders.